Author Topic: Rainy Lake, North of Seeley (Read 4719 times)

MTviking · « **on:** Dec 17, 2010, 05:03 PM »

Have any of you ever fished Rainy Lake that is on the clearwater north of Seeley,Inez and Alva? If so, how'd you do and for what? FWP lists Lake Trout as being one of the species present. If there are in fact Macs in Rainy, it seems you would also find them, at least eventually, downstream in Seeley and Salmon lakes. I would personally love to see lakers in Seeley and Salmon. Although I am not sure if Salmon or Seeley are deep enough to support Macs.

marealj · « **Reply #1 on:** Dec 17, 2010, 06:51 PM »

I don't think there are any Macs in Rainy. It's a pretty small lake. I've only fished it in the summer, but there's a lot of cutthroats and a few perch. Never caught anything else there.

fishin247 · « **Reply #2 on:** Dec 17, 2010, 07:28 PM »

Makes you wonder. There's macks in the swan drainage, wouldn't be a stretch for them to get in the clearwater. I've marked some huge fish 70 ft down in Seeley and it makes you wonder. Definately deep enough for em on the north end

MTviking · « **Reply #3 on:** Dec 18, 2010, 03:08 AM »

Yeah, I really have no idea. I've never fished Rainy but I would certainly have an interest if it has the potential to produce Macs. The FWP does claim that there are Lake Trout present but I take anything they say with a grain of salt as they have proven their incompetence "in general" to me a many a time. However, as I say that, there are a few that really know what they are talking about and are there in their respectivpositions for the right reasons. Who am I to say they are not doing their jobs?

But as a license purchasee and MT tax payer I have often felt that, hey, maybe they don't have the answers and are just simply some organization that has an opinion just like I do. But they've got more clout than I do,

fishin247 · « **Reply #4 on:** Dec 18, 2010, 09:29 AM »

People in every job that are passionate and competant and some that are less so. Unreasonable for us to expect differently from FWP. Opinion of the researcher is always going to influence the research of anything. Just like we can't expect that, as sportsman, the entire FWP will be sympathetic to us. Unrealistic and frankly short-sited. You have to figure, once in a while, someone that feels passionately about managing wildlife their way, either hunting or not, will want to be involved in the FWP. As sportsman we can hope, and I do think, that the vast majority are sypathetic to us. It was just said on this board not long ago, opinions are that something else, everyone's got on. Well I figure if God gave us the latter, the former can't be to bad to have. Pretty boring place if we all had the same opinion, pretty gross if we all had the same you know what. But to summerise, just like with any job, you hope overall the FWP has competant people, but a few that aren't are always going to give the others a bad name.

MTviking · « **Reply #5 on:** Dec 18, 2010, 11:50 AM »

Wow, I was pretty lit last night when I typed that post. I really should have called it a night a few drinks earlier and hit the hay.

GOOSE_EGG · « **Reply #6 on:** Dec 18, 2010, 01:32 PM »

Linginator · « **Reply #7 on:** Dec 18, 2010, 03:12 PM »

I've fished Rainy for over 20 years, primarily in open water but some ice fishing as well. Never caught a lake trout, or heard of anybody catching any, but I'm not saying they're not there. Rainy has always been productive for cutties and bull trout. We've caught some really nice size in both. There are perch in Rainy but I've never had any great luck landing decent numbers. Also - Rainy does NOT have Pike like all the other Seeley/Swan lakes. There is a spillway on the Clearwater River between Alva and Rainy that has kept out the pike, I'm not sure they would do that well in Rainy anyway though because it's a pretty deep lake with steep shoreline drop offs.

In my opinion Rainy is the gem of the whole chain of lakes!

MTviking · « **Reply #8 on:** Dec 18, 2010, 04:20 PM »

Quote from: Linginator on Dec 18, 2010, 03:12 PM

I've fished Rainy for over 20 years, primarily in open water but some ice fishing as well. Never caught a lake trout, or heard of anybody catching any, but I'm not saying they're not there. Rainy has always been productive for cutties and bull trout. We've caught some really nice size in both. There are perch in Rainy but I've never had any great luck landing decent numbers. Also - Rainy does NOT have Pike like all the other Seeley/Swan lakes. There is a spillway on the Clearwater River between Alva and Rainy that has kept out the pike, I'm not sure they would do that well in Rainy anyway though because it's a pretty deep lake with steep shoreline drop offs.

In my opinion Rainy is the gem of the whole chain of lakes!

Thank you for the info. Sounds like a good lake that I will have to try but I will know not to go with high hopes of catching lakers. Do you ever fish Placid? That lake is among my favorite lakes to icefish in the whole state.

Linginator · « **Reply #9 on:** Dec 18, 2010, 05:09 PM »

I have fished Placid, but not with any notable success. We've pulled out a few pike and some nice perch but never had any great days. Do you mainly target perch and pike there? I've heard there are nice trout in there as well but never iced any.

gadgetman · « **Reply #10 on:** Dec 19, 2010, 07:38 AM »

Pike in Placid ? I didn't know that,any size to them?

MTviking · « **Reply #11 on:** Dec 20, 2010, 01:25 AM »

Quote from: Linginator on Dec 18, 2010, 05:09 PM

I have fished Placid, but not with any notable success. We've pulled out a few pike and some nice perch but never had any great days. Do you mainly target perch and pike there? I've heard there are nice trout in there as well but never iced any.

I don't think you and I are talking about the same Placid lake if you've caught a few pike. I've fished that lake oh, probably 30 to 50 times, 5 to 15 times a winter over the 6 year stretch that I lived in Missoula and a few times since I moved back to Billings. During all but the first year or two of those outings, I used my aqua-vu religiously. I have never once seen a pike, heard of any of the other locals I would often see up there catch any, and I talked with a Biologist that was invoved in the gill netting surveys who said there are no pike in Placid.

flyfisherman83 · « **Reply #12 on:** Dec 20, 2010, 02:06 AM »

god i hope there are no pike in there i have fished it since i was five when we had a cabin up there and never cought a pike, all open water tho.

Linginator · « **Reply #13 on:** Dec 20, 2010, 07:26 AM »

Yeah that's my mistake. We never have caught any pike in Placid, just some perch. I guess I just threw it in the same group as all the other Seeley Swan lakes, because I know we've caugth pike in Salmon, Seeley, Inez, and Swan. I always forget that Placid is not connected on the Clearwater chain. Thanks for correcting me guys. I really wasn't trying to pull anyone's leg.

MTviking · « **Reply #14 on:** Dec 20, 2010, 10:13 AM »

Quote from: Linginator on Dec 20, 2010, 07:26 AM

Yeah that's my mistake. We never have caught any pike in Placid, just some perch. I guess I just threw it in the same group as all the other Seeley Swan lakes, because I know we've caugth pike in Salmon, Seeley, Inez, and Swan. I always forget that Placid is not connected on the Clearwater chain. Thanks for correcting me guys. I really wasn't trying to pull anyone's leg.

I didn't figure you were trying to BS us. Placid is indirectly connected to the clearwater via placid creek which I am positive trout will travel up and down regularly, but it is a small, shallow and swift moving stream that no pike in its right mind would ever consider trying to travel up. Now if Placid had pike and the others didn't, they wouldn't undoubtedly make their way downstream to the others.

Linginator · « **Reply #15 on:** Dec 20, 2010, 11:01 AM »

MTviking:

When you mentioned that you've done well at Placid, were you mainly refering to trout?

Placid perch I caught a few years back.

Aaron072 · « **Reply #16 on:** Dec 20, 2010, 11:13 AM »

nice hog

MTviking · « **Reply #17 on:** Dec 20, 2010, 11:45 PM »

In Placid, I've caught a lot of trout, including several nice bull trout over 20", lots of brookies and kokanees, Some browns,cutts,bows, sunfish, one nice bass and a bunch of less desirable species but other than the large diversity of species, the hawg perch have been the primary draw for me. There aren't too many things more exciting than seeing a perch on the aqua-vu that comes in solo and dwarfs the whitefish you've been seeing and slams your jig and then starts ripping drag.

That is a real nice one by the way.

PyroZuki · « **Reply #18 on:** Dec 21, 2010, 09:27 AM »

As far as Rainy Lake, I've landed lots of cuts on the fly rod. That's basically all I've caught there.

As far as Placid, there are some really nice perch in some areas. Nice perch ^!!!

Pyro

fishin247 · « **Reply #19 on:** Dec 22, 2010, 10:33 PM »

Its actually Owl creek that drains Placid into the Clearwater. I always wondered how that happened, because callinf it Placid Crk would make more sense.

MTviking · « **Reply #20 on:** Dec 23, 2010, 10:58 AM »

Quote from: fishin247 on Dec 22, 2010, 10:33 PM

Its actually Owl creek that drains Placid into the Clearwater. I always wondered how that happened, because callinf it Placid Crk would make more sense.

Really? I didn't know that. That's kind of strange. I just looked in my topo atlas and placid lake has placid creek flowing into it but it does not say what the creek is called draining out.

fishin247 · « **Reply #21 on:** Dec 23, 2010, 03:20 PM »

Yeah. Kind of crazy. I too always assumed the same thing since Placid crk flows in, but I found out otherwise a few years ago.

MTviking · « **Reply #22 on:** Dec 23, 2010, 04:35 PM »

Probably a marketing ploy by FWP. People will look at the regulations for Placid Creek only to be sold a ticket after finding out they are doing something illegal on Owl Creek. Pretty brilliant really.

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Author Topic: Rainy Lake, North of Seeley (Read 4719 times)